Program

Below is the program from the 2017 MIT Sustainability Summit.

Friday 28 April 2017

8:00 AM

Registration / Breakfast

9:00 AM

Introduction

Location: (7th floor)

Robert Eccles
Chairman, Arabesque Partners

Robert G. Eccles is the world’s foremost expert on integrated reporting and a leader on how companies and investors can create sustainable strategies. He is the Founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and one of the founders of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). He has recently joined the board of Mistra Centre for Sustainable Markets (MISUM) in Sweden. Bob is Chairman of Arabesque Partners, the first ESG Quant Fund, with headquarters in London and a research group in Frankfurt. In 2011, Bob was selected as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, for his extensive, positive contribution to building trust in business, and in 2014 and 2015 was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Bob is the award-winning author of a dozen books including seminal works on integrated reporting, sustainability, and the role of business in society. He received an S.B. in Mathematics and an S.B. in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both degrees in 1973) and an A.M. (1975) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (1979) from Harvard University. Bob joined the faculty of Harvard Business School that year and received tenure in 1989.

9:15 AM

Fireside Chat with George Serafeim

Location: (7th floor)

George Serafeim of HBS and Jem Hudson of Breckinridge Capital will open the Summit with a discussion of the past, present and future of sustainability in finance. Why do materiality and sustainability measurement matter in finance? How can investors and big businesses lead a shift to a more sustainable economy? And how can students and professionals participate?

Jem Hudson
Director of Engagement, Breckinridge Capital Advisors

Jem Hudson is the Director of Engagement at Breckinridge Capital Advisors, a Boston-based fixed income investment management firm with over $27 billion in assets under management. In her role, Jem is primarily responsible for helping strengthen Breckinridge’s ESG and sustainability-related dialogue with a range of key stakeholders including issuers, clients, industry peers, and thought leaders. To this end, Jem leads Breckinridge’s issuer engagement efforts, develops thought leadership including Breckinridge’s ESG Newsletter, and collaborates with various departments across the firm in order to bolster Breckinridge’s sustainability-related efforts. She joined the firm in January 2016 and has over 11 years of financial services and sustainability experience. Prior to Breckinridge, Jem was the CEO of Caldy Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm she founded to advise financial institutions seeking to expand their presence in sustainable investing. Before Caldy Group, Jem was a researcher with Professor Michael E. Porter at Harvard Business School, where she made contributions in the areas of competitive strategy, competitiveness of nations and creating shared value. Jem started her career as an analyst in Deutsche Bank's investment banking division. She serves as a steering committee member for High Meadows Institute’s Path to Value initiative and for the Wharton School’s Social Impact Alumni Group. She is also a senior alumni advisor to the Harvard College Impact Investing Group. Jem holds an AB from Harvard College and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

George Serafeim
Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

George Serafeim is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses in the MBA and doctoral programs, chaired Executive Education programs, authored more than 100 articles and business cases, and presented his research in more than 100 conferences and seminars. He has spoken at major events in over 60 countries around the world and is one of the most popular business authors, according to rankings of the Social Science Research Network.
Professor Serafeim's research interests are international, focusing on corporate valuation, governance and reporting issues. His work has been published in the most prestigious academic and practitioner journals including Journal of Finance and Harvard Business Review. Professor Serafeim has extensive experience as a senior advisor and board member in both the non-profit and private sectors. He is a co-founder of KKS Advisors and a senior advisor to Calvert Research and Management. Professor Serafeim earned his doctorate in business administration at Harvard Business School and a master's degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He grew up in Athens, Greece.

While investors are increasingly interested in sustainability and companies are adopting and publishing CSR strategies at record rates, the availability of high quality sustainability data remains inconsistent. In this context, the three panelists will discuss current applications and processes for incorporating sustainability data in research and investing, as well as the challenges inherent in accessing neutral and reliable information to inform smart investment decisions.

Joshua Kazdin
Vice President, Scientific Active Equity, BlackRock

Joshua Kazdin is a member of BlackRock's Scientific Active Equity team (SAE). He is responsible for developing SAE's Impact Investing platform and conducting alpha-generating research on stock selection, top-down and thematic insights across active global long only and long short equity funds.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Mr. Kazdin was a research analyst at Lazard Asset Management and a research associate at International Strategy & Investment Group.

Mr. Kazdin earned a BS, with distinction, in economics and political science from Duke University in 2008 and an MFin degree in finance from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011.

Mike McCreless
Senior Director of Strategy & Impact, Root Capital

Mike McCreless is Senior Director of Strategy & Impact at Root Capital, where he oversees social & environmental due diligence and impact evaluation, and facilitates long-term and annual strategic planning and organizational development. His article "Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier" was featured in the Winter 2016 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. He previously consulted for Monitor Company and conducted research for Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. Mike holds an M.B.A. and an M.P.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Yale University.

Since 2006, Sarah has worked in the area of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research, first as an analyst working on customized client projects and deliverables, then moving into a client relations role. Focused primarily on the U.S. market, Sarah helps prospective clients identify their ESG research needs and find the responsible investment solution that suits them best. She communicates regularly with clients, providing education and support for all stakeholders, helping to identify new markets, and supporting their sales and marketing efforts through meetings and presentations. Sarah also speaks regularly on the topics of responsible investing and ESG investing at conferences.
Prior to joining Sustainalytics Sarah worked for an English as a second language teaching program in South Korea and studied gender equality and its relations to sustainable development in Mexico. Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Development from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario.

Jake Cohen is Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Master’s Programs and a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Law at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He oversees MIT Sloan’s portfolio of degree programs, as well as the Offices of Admissions, Student Life, and Career Development. Jake is responsible for setting strategy for the undergraduate and all Master's programs, including the new Master of Business Analytics program. Jake is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council, and MIT’s Title IX officer for MIT Sloan.

From 2008 to 2011, Jake was the Dean of the MBA Program at INSEAD, directing strategy and operations for campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Under his leadership, INSEAD expanded its degree programs and received its highest rankings ever among business school MBA programs. Jake also served as a member of the Deans’ Leadership Team, overseeing every aspect of the academic experience in all programs. In 2012, he spent his post-deanship sabbatical teaching financial management as a Judge Fellow at Cambridge University and as a Research Fellow studying corporate social responsibility reporting at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.

Before becoming dean, Jake was director of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers Research Initiative on High Performance Organizations. He was founder, director, and professor of INSEAD’s Business Foundations Program, as well as Affiliate Professor of Accounting and Control and Business Law. Before joining INSEAD in 2003, he was a Senior Teaching Fellow at Harvard Business School in the Accounting & Management Group.

Prior to his academic career, Jake worked as an accountant at KPMG LLP in Philadelphia, and as a mergers & acquisition consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York City.

Jake holds a JD in corporate law from Syracuse University, an MS in accounting from Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, and a BS in accounting from Lehigh University. He has completed six executive certificates at Harvard Business School; the AVIRA certificate for senior executives at INSEAD; and is currently participating in Leader to Leader (L2L), MIT’s nationally recognized best-practice leadership development program.

10:45 AM

Break

11:00 AM

Panel: Opportunities in Energy Finance

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

Sustainable energy solutions often struggle to access both growth-stage capital and the institutional investors needed for large-scale, capital market financings. The long-term nature of infrastructure investments, notoriously difficult technological hurdles, and unpredictable regulatory environment create a harsh climate for venture capital seeking near-term, high-IRR payoffs, and continue to make participation difficult for institutional investors seeking predictable, low-cost, liquid cash flows. This panel will focus on the novel approaches, partnerships and structures bridging such funding gaps. Which investment vehicles will succeed in funding a sustainable energy future, and who gets to decide?

Jim Miller
Vice President of Worldwide Operations, Google

Jim Miller is vice president of worldwide Operations at Google. In this role, he has responsibility for global operations, planning, supply chain and new product introduction for Google’s IT infrastructure and Google Fiber. Additionally, he has responsibility for Google Energy and Corporate & Social Responsibility. He is also actively engaged with Google’s efforts in the area of Computational Genomics and Biology as the executive sponsor.
Prior to joining Google in 2010, Jim was executive vice president of Sanmina-SCI Corporation, one of the world’s largest electronic manufacturing service providers, where he had responsibility for their industrial, clean tech, multimedia and automotive businesses.
Jim has held a variety of leadership roles throughout his career. He has held numerous executive leadership roles in operations and supply chain management at Cisco, Amazon.com, Teledesic LLC, Intel and IBM.
Jim has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a “MIT Leaders for Manufacturing” Fellow.

Dennis Costello
Managing Partner, Braemar Energy Ventures

Dennis R. Costello is a Managing Partner of Braemar Energy Ventures II and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Costello has been an active venture capital investment professional for over twenty-five years. From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Costello was with Advent International, where he focused on early‑stage to later‑stage middle market companies. From 1995 to 2000, he served as the chief investment officer for the North American operations of Advent International. Mr. Costello is also a managing director in Rock Maple Ventures, an early‑stage technology venture fund in Boston. Prior to Advent International, Mr. Costello was a general partner of Zero Stage Capital of Pennsylvania, a venture capital partnership investing in early‑stage technology companies in Pennsylvania. Mr. Costello began his career in alternative energy with positions at Midwest Research Institute and a member of the original staff of the National Solar Energy Research Institute (“SERI”), now renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”). During that period, Mr. Costello published numerous papers and articles on the economic and market issues of solar energy commercialization. He is also the author of the Dow‑Jones Irwin book New Venture Analysis: Research, Planning, and Finance. Mr. Costello holds an MS degree in business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. He also holds an MA in economics from Ohio State University and a BA in economics from the State University of New York (SUNY), College at Fredonia.

Tibor has over 20 years of private equity & venture capital investment and entrepreneurial experience. Tibor heads the Investments Division at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). MassCEC invests equity and debt in early-stage and growing clean technology companies, provides incentives for the adoption of renewable energy, and develops programs to prepare workers for the next generation of clean energy jobs. Tibor has focused in the clean energy sector since early 2010, when he joined a clean energy company, QGEN, as its CFO. Previously, Tibor has worked at Babson Capital, Ascent Venture Partners, Lee Capital and Berkshire Partners. Tibor is an Adjunct Professor at the Brandeis International Business School and serves as a director or observer on several corporate and non-profit Boards. Tibor holds an SB in Management Science from MIT, completed the Masters of Management and Manufacturing (MMM) program at Northwestern University, receiving an MBA from the Kellogg School and an engineering master’s degree from the McCormick School, and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst charter holder.

David Miller is Founder and Executive Managing Director of CEVG. An engineer by training, he brings over twenty years of technology startup management experience and over eighteen years of seed stage investing experience. He has been on the board of directors or advisory board of several clean energy companies, including MyEnergy, Azima DLI, and Cambrian Innovation and has mentored many others. He also has an appointment as Research Affiliate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Previously, Mr. Miller founded several companies, including Quantum Telecom Solutions, which developed software for programmable switching equipment. He grew the company to profitability, with over 100% annual growth over a four-year period, and then negotiated venture financing and sold the company to Excel Switching Corp. a public company that shortly thereafter was itself acquired by Lucent Technologies. At Lucent, he served as Director in the New Ventures Group, where he managed and evaluated a diverse set of early stage investments.
Mr. Miller is a New England Chapter Director of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2, www.e2.org), a national community of business leaders who advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity and has developed relationships with state and federal policy makers to support the growth of the clean energy industry. He received his BS and MS in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT, and completed his doctorate at MIT’s Lab for Energy and the Environment, where he studied the utilization and commercialization of distributed generation and energy efficiency measures.

11:00 AM

Panel: Public / Private Partnerships in Sustainable Finance

Location: Dining Room 5 (6th floor, room 624)

In recent years, the private sector’s interest in sustainable investments and the development of projects with positive social and environmental impact has grown exponentially. Because such projects impact industries with historically strong public intervention, public-private partnerships are helping to create and to scale innovative investment products, to diversify risks and to better allocate resources. This panel’s speakers represent organizations that are bridging public/private divides to change the landscape of sustainable finance. How are such partnerships ensuring a more efficient and impactful use of resources?

Barbara Humpton serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc., a federally-compliant U.S. organization and leading integrator of Siemens’ innovative products, technologies and services for programs and requirements at federal government agencies and departments in the areas of energy generation, transmission, distribution and efficiency, infrastructure modernization, industrial applications and healthcare. Mrs. Humpton is also an Officer/Director member of the Board of Directors of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc.

Prior to joining Siemens, Humpton served as a Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton where she was responsible for program performance and new business development for technology consulting in the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. Earlier, Humpton was a Vice President at Lockheed Martin Corporation with responsibility for Biometrics Programs, Border and Transportation Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection, including such critical programs as the FBI’s Next Generation Identification and the TSA’s Transportation Workers’ Identification Credential.

Humpton is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a degree in Mathematics. She serves on the Government Contracts Advisory Board of the George Washington University Law School. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband David.

Social Finance is a nonprofit organization which is leading the development of Pay for Success financing and Social Impact Bonds, an innovative public-private partnership that mobilizes capital to drive social progress.

Prior to joining Social Finance, Shu Dar was a Vice President at Citi, focusing on inclusive finance and digital acceleration. In this role, she was responsible for advising clients in the design and execution of innovative market-based development and poverty-alleviation strategies. Prior to Citi, Shu Dar was a consultant at Bain & Company. Prior to Bain & Company, she worked at the World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm International Finance Corporation. There she focused on Global Infrastructure project finance, with a focus on transportation. During the financial crisis, she took a leadership role in structuring, fundraising, and executing the Infrastructure Crisis Facility, a global $4 billion infrastructure investment fund designed and funded jointly by development finance institutions. Before that, Shu Dar was an investment banker at JPMorgan, working in global M&A, Syndicated Leveraged Finance and Private Equity Sponsors.

Shu Dar received an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and graduated Magna Cum Laude from NYU, Stern School of Business with a BS in Finance and International Business.

Mike Reynolds
Director, Ultra Capital

A skilled investment professional with 10 years of experience in project finance and risk analysis for infrastructure assets. CEO and co-founder of EverVest, a software platform for financial modeling and risk analysis of renewable energy projects. Investment banker at Goldman Sachs focusing on the infrastructure, transportation and public sectors. Led and managed over $15BN in transactions including project financings, asset portfolio sales, securitization, and corporate financings. MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Jack W. Goss Fellow for Entrepreneurship; BS, State University of New York at Albany.

Bernardo Weaver
Senior PPP Consultant, World Bank Group

Bernardo Weaver is a senior PPP consultant at the World Bank Group and an Adjunct Professor of M&A at Georgetown Business School. Mr. Weaver currently helps manage the World Bank PPP program in Central America. It covers PPP training, project selection, advisory and structuring in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Mr. Weaver is constantly travelling to Latin America and often meets with Ministers and Secretaries of State to advance PPP matters in these countries. He also provides support to PPP deals in Africa, and South America. Previously, Mr. Weaver advised the investment fund and banking industry in Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. He has published extensively on PPPs, including a book on Value for Money in PPP projects. Mr. Weaver is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown Business School teaching M&A. Previously, he taught M&A at FGV Business School in Brazil. Mr. Weaver has law degrees from Brazil and the United States, and a MBA in finance from the Wharton School of Business.

11:45 AM

Lunch

12:30 PM

Keynote Speaker

Location: (7th floor)

In today’s rapidly evolving global context, sustainability is driving a restructuring of major world systems. Generation Investment Management has been and continues to be a leader in building sustainable investment strategies that are adapted to a modern global economy, support a sustainable future, and generate traditional market-rate returns. Tammie Arnold will discuss Generation’s investment strategy and market outlook, and how that impacts the broader investment landscape today and in the future.

Tammie Arnold
Partner & Head of the Global Client Team, Generation

Tammie joined Generation in 2014 and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She is the Head of the Global Client Team. Prior to joining Generation, Tammie worked in a variety of capacities at PIMCO from 1993 to 2013. She was responsible for PIMCO’s global sustainability initiatives, led the global advisory business from London, was head of global wealth management, was co-head of the product management group, and served as a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to joining PIMCO, Tammie was a global equities portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors.
Tammie graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in Finance, and received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

1:20 PM

Transition period

1:30 PM

Panel: Water Ownership - Rights and Responsibilities

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

Private investor participation in water rights and water management has accelerated. Correspondingly, consumers, investors and municipalities are grappling with the merits and considerations of such private sector involvement. Panelists representing private investment firms, policy organizations and academia will evaluate the state of water rights and private capital today and what to consider looking ahead. How can private investors meet financial interests, collaborate with diverse stakeholders and help protect an increasingly scarce resource and those who depend on it?

Adam Schempp
Senior Attorney and Director of the Western Water Program, Environmental Law Institute

Adam Schempp is a Senior Attorney and Director of the Western Water Program at the Environmental Law Institute. He leads the Institute’s work on water rights, allocation, and use. Mr. Schempp also works extensively on water quality and marine management issues. Much of his research focuses on identifying opportunities to meet sustainability objectives through existing laws and potential legal developments. Among other reports and articles, Mr. Schempp authored Western Water in the 21st Century: Policies and Programs that Stretch Supplies in a Prior Appropriation World, Five Things to Consider When Developing and Adapting Water Policies and Programs in the West, and At the Confluence of the Clean Water Act and Prior Appropriation: The Challenge and Ways Forward. Before joining ELI, Mr. Schempp clerked in the legal department of the Denver Water Board and for the Native American Rights Fund. He holds a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Doug Kenney
Director of the Western Water Policy Program, University of Colorado Law School in the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment

Doug Kenney is Director of the Western Water Policy Program, located within the University of Colorado Law School in the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment. He has written extensively on several water-related issues, including law and policy reform, river basin and watershed-level planning, climate change adaptation, and water resource economics. Among his publications are In Search of Sustainable Water Management: International Lessons for the American West and Beyond (2005, Edward Elgar Publishing) and The Water-Energy Nexus in the Western United States (2011, Edward Elgar Publishing). He is also affiliated with the CU/NOAA Western Water Assessment (exploring the link between climate change/variability and western US water management) and is a member of the CU Environmental Studies faculty. Dr. Kenney has served as a consultant to a variety of local, state, multi-state, and federal agencies, including several Interior Department agencies, EPA, the US Forest Service, and special commissions; and national governments and NGOs in Asia and Africa. Additionally, he has made presentations in 20 states (and the District of Columbia), 7 nations, and 4 continents. He has a B.A. in biology from the University of Colorado, a M.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Administration from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Renewable Natural Resource Studies from the University of Arizona.

Marc Robert
Chief Operating Officer, Water Asset Management LLC

Marc Robert is presently a Managing Member, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Water Asset Management LLC. Since 2006 he has been responsible for the oversight of business development, operations, compliance, and investor relations for the firm’s public and private equity strategies. Mr. Robert has been a guest lecturer on the water industry and water policy at a variety of renowned institutions including the Brookings Institute, Harvard’s Kennedy School, and Stockholm Water Week. He is currently Chair of Board of Trustees of WaterAid America, $100 mm annual global water and sanitation focused NGO.

Prior to Water Asset Management LLC, Mr. Robert worked at Morgan Stanley, serving as the Managing Director, Global Head of US equity research sales and as the Managing Director responsible for Global Marketing of Morgan Stanley’s equity research product through Japan, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Before Morgan Stanley, Mr. Robert managed sales for various institutional investors in the UK, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Robert graduated from Brown University in 1982 with an AB in Religious Studies.

Julian Koelbel
Post-Doctoral Fellow, MIT Sloan

Julian is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT Sloan, affiliated with the System Dynamics Group and the Sustainability Initiative.
Julian has studied extensively the relationship between sustainability and credit risk, focusing on the role of the media, rating agencies, and activists. His recent projects focus on (1) the methodology of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and (2) the financial risks of water scarcity and the unique strategic dilemma that water as a common pool resource poses to companies.

Professionally, Julian has been working as an analyst at RepRisk AG, as researcher at the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem in Bethlehem (ARIJ), and as an auditor in sustainable asset management at the private bank Vontobel.

Julian received his PhD from ETH Zurich, at the chair for Sustainability and Technology. Prior to that, Julian completed an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford and a BSc in Environmental Science at ETH Zurich.

1:30 PM

Fireside Chat: Family Office Investments for Profit and with Purpose

Location: Dining Room 4 (6th floor, room 632)

Heidi Pickett and Liesel Pritzker Simmons will explore how individuals and family offices are leading impact investing — and as a result generating ESG impact, building the business case for integrating impact in investments across asset classes and mobilizing others around the tools and the purpose needed to foster lasting change. Specifically, this panel will speak to Blue Haven Initiative’s motivation, experience and accomplishments.

Liesel Pritzker Simmons is Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, where she oversees a portfolio structured to generate competitive financial returns and address social and environmental challenges. The portfolio spans asset classes, from traditional equities and direct investments to philanthropic programs.

Liesel co-founded Blue Haven with her husband, Ian Simmons. Their investment portfolios, restructured to be impact-driven, became the foundation of Blue Haven, one of the first family offices created with impact investing as its focus. In addition to working closely with entrepreneurs, nonprofits and co-investors on companies and initiatives that create social, environmental and financial value, Liesel develops strategic partnerships with organizations that support and advance more informed investing.

Heidi Pickett
Director, MIT Sloan Master of Finance Program

Ms. Heidi V. Pickett is the Director of the MIT Sloan Master of Finance program with responsibility for developing and implementing new programing, engaging external stakeholders, and executing strategies supporting the mission of producing the next generation of global financial leaders. She leads study tours in Asia and the UK focused on finance, monetary policy and global markets. Ms. Pickett also serves on the policy committees for the Master of Finance Program and Sloan Undergraduate Education.
In addition to Ms. Pickett’s responsibilities leading the Master of Finance program, she co-leads MIT Sloan’s new initiative Family Leaders With Purpose (FLWP). The mission is to build and grow a community of innovative family leaders with a passion for addressing humanities greatest challenges, and provide them with the tools, frameworks, skills and global connectivity to leading-edge experts and entrepreneurs.

With over 20 years in financial services, Ms. Pickett has expertise in corporate development, business strategy, and global operations. Prior to joining MIT Sloan, she served as Senior Managing Director at State Street Global Markets, where she managed global business integration and led the sovereign wealth fund initiative.

In March 2011, Ms. Pickett was named Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies where she spent time in Oman during a period of turmoil, protests, and profound change throughout the Middle East. She has focused on Arab cultural, economic, political, and social diversity. Ms. Pickett is currently working towards a diploma in Islamic Finance.

Ms. Pickett is the President of the Verrill Foundation; her interests include global and local community focus on the education and well being of women and girls. She is a member of the Board for Invest in Girls. In the past, Ms. Pickett has been a member of the International Women’s Health Coalition’s Leadership Council, Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts Leading Women Committee and Strong Women Strong Girls Development Committee.

Ms. Pickett received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bryant University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from Bentley’s McCallum School of Business and completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School.

1:30 PM

Panel: Labor - Investing in Good Jobs

Location: Dining Room 5 (6th floor, room 624)

The companies and organizations that drive our labor market and workforce look to investors as key stakeholders. On this panel, investors will explore the premise that in creating ‘good’ jobs, employers create value for themselves, customers, and investors. How do they think about investing in the context of labor, and how and why should companies think about investing in ‘good’ jobs?

Barbara Dyer is Senior Lecturer and Executive Director, MIT Sloan Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative. She arrived at MIT in January, 2017 having served as President & CEO of The Hitachi Foundation, and senior advisor on Hitachi’s CSR strategy since 1998. During her tenure at The Hitachi Foundation, Ms. Dyer sharpened the Foundation’s focus on the role of business in society, with a particular emphasis on the role of business in ameliorating poverty in America. Ms. Dyer was a Trustee of Clark University and a member the American University School of Public Affairs Dean’s Advisory Council. She served as co-founder and first Chair of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Dyer had an extensive career in public policy as co-founder of the National Academy of Public Administration’s Alliance for Redesigning Government, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Policy Studies with the National Governors’ Association affiliate, the Council of Governors’ Policy Advisors, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior in the Carter Administration, and Deputy Executive Director of the Western Regional Office of the Council of State Governments. She is a graduate of Clark University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Nancy Pfund
Founder and Managing Partner, DBL Partners

Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm whose goal is to combine top-​​tier financial returns with meaningful social, environmental and economic returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests. Nancy is also the Founder of DBL Investors. As a leading player in the growing field of “impact investing”, DBL has helped to reveal the power of venture capital to promote social change and environmental improvement, and Ms. Pfund writes and speaks frequently of impact investing.

Ms. Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; Farmers Business Network, The Muse, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Off-​​Grid Electric, Primus Power, and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora. She also served on the board of SolarCity from 2008 until its acquisition by Tesla in Decebmer 2016, on both the audit and compensation committees, and chairing its corporate governance committee; Prior to founding DBL Investors, Ms. Pfund was a Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan, having started her investment career at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984. Previously, Ms. Pfund worked at Intel Corporation, the State of California, Stanford University and the Sierra Club.

Ms. Pfund was featured #17 in the 2014 FORTUNE Inaugural World’s Top 25 Eco-​​Innovators; and appeared on Fast Company’s 2016 List of Most Creative People in Business. She is the author, along with Benjamin Healey of the widely-cited report on the history of U.S. energy subsidies entitled, “What Would Jefferson Do? The Historical Role of Federal Subsidies in Shaping America’s Energy Future.” Ms. Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Jason Britton
Founder & CIO, Good Companies Investment Strategy

As former Managing Director, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Wealth Management, Jason created and managed the Socially Innovative Investing (S2I) strategy in the investments group within U.S. Trust. Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Jason served as the group head for the community investing team at Lehman Brothers. It was there that he and Barbara Dyer collaborated with the F.B. Heron Foundation on building a Community Investment Index as foundations began looking for ways to align their investments with their missions. Jason is now taking his focus on investing in companies that generate environmental and social value to new heights with the Good Companies Investment Strategy. He centers on deepening our understanding of risk and how investment strategies that genuinely assess firm governance, ownership structures, operations and diversity actually are good investments.

Sarah Kalloch
Executive Director, Good Jobs Initiative

Sarah Kalloch serves as the Executive Director the Good Jobs Initiative, which aims to improve the jobs and lives of low wage workers in a way that also benefits companies and their customers. She builds tools and frameworks, supports research, and advises companies on how to implement the Good Jobs Strategy, which combines operational excellence with investment in people to provide value for employees, customers and investors. An MIT Sloan MBA graduate, Sarah was elected president of Sloan Net Impact and was managing director of the 2016 MIT Sustainability Summit. Sarah did her MBA internship at Apple, where she focused on strategic manufacturing and design approaches to reduce environmental impacts in Apple’s supply chain. Prior to Sloan, Sarah worked at Oxfam America on global food security policy with both governments and private sector leaders. At Nobel-Prize winning Physicians for Human Rights, Sarah served on the executive management team, co-founding two health and human rights organizations in Uganda and Kenya and advocating for billions of dollars in HIV/AIDS and global health funding. She received a B.A, magna cum laude, in social studies from Harvard College.

2:30 PM

Panel: Education - What Should We Be Financing?

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

A discussion of Funding the Future would be incomplete without mention of the children who will inherit this future. Investing in education systems and models presents opportunities for long-term, wide-scale impact. Panelists will speak to a wide array of potential investments -- from venture capital and edtech to charter schools and public school management. How can investors play a role in developing the models and producing the data that will support high-quality capital allocation and results? And how should we think about measuring outcomes in a way that supports future investment decisions?

Victor Reinoso
Chief Operating Officer, Independent Sector

Victor is chief operating officer of Independent Sector, the nation’s leading voice for the charitable sector, and founder of Hopscotch Ventures, a mission-driven investment and advisory firm.
As an entrepreneur, investor & advisor Victor has worked with a portfolio of early stage ventures including Decision Science Labs (acquired by Schoolzilla), TenMarks (acquired by Amazon), LearnZillion, and Ellevation. Victor was previously Entrepreneur in Residence at the NewSchools Venture Fund and Senior Advisor on Innovation to the President of Georgetown University, where he helped develop the University’s MOOC strategy and launch a new executive master’s in leadership. He was the District of Columbia’s first deputy mayor for education, where he oversaw the mayor’s takeover of the DC Public Schools, a $1+ billion operating budget, and the largest capital investment in public buildings in DC history.
Previously, Victor was founder & CEO of RadioFutura (an early streaming media company), and a consultant to leading brands including AOL, PBS, Verizon. He has served on multiple boards and is a Trustee of the District of Columbia Public Library system.
Victor is a member & moderator of the Aspen Global Leaders Network and the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship. He has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from MIT. The son of Peruvian immigrants, Victor grew up in a Spanish-only household and lives in Washington, DC with his family.

Robbin Chapman is Associate Provost and Academic Director of Diversity & Inclusion, and Lecturer of Education, Wellesley College. Her research is on design and use of digital tools for learning, technologies for learning in public spaces, equity issues as they relate to learning technologies and technology-driven pedagogy, and the intersection of community, cognition, and computation. Publications include the book, The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities and chapters in Social Capital and Information Technology, Falling for Science: Objects in Mind, Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators, and The Wiley Handbook of Learning Technology.

In 2016, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology established the Dr. Robbin Chapman Excellence Through Adversity Award. The new award will be presented annually to a senior at MIT from an underrepresented group who has demonstrated excellence and leadership."

Robbin currently serves on a number of boards and as regional liaison for the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program, administered through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She enjoys working with her network of colleagues and their institutions to explore creative ways of leveraging technologies for learning, and enhancing diversity and leadership skills.

Parag Pathak
Professor of Microeconomics, MIT

Parag A. Pathak is the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics at MIT, founding co-director of the NBER Working Group on Market Design, and founder of MIT's School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a laboratory focused on education, human capital, and the income distribution. In 2005, based on work in his PhD thesis, Boston's school committee adopted a new mechanism for student placement, citing the desire to make it easier for participants to navigate and to level the playing field for the city's families. He has also helped to design the Chicago, Denver, Newark, New Orleans, New York, and Washington DC school choice systems.

His work on market design and education was recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. In 2012, he was selected to give the Shapley Lecture at GAMES2012 as a distinguished game theorist under age 40. In 2013, he was appointed as Mayor Thomas Menino's chief technical advisor for Boston's student assignment plan. Under his direction, SEII provided a formal analysis of different alternatives, which eventually led to the most significant change in Boston's school choice system since the end of court-ordered busing. The IMF listed him as one of 25 top economists under age 45 in 2014. He was awarded the 2016 Social Choice and Welfare as the top young scholar in social choice and welfare economics together with Fuhito Kojima and elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society. In addition to generating academic publications that study, develop, and test different student assignment systems, Pathak's research work has directly affected the lives of over one million public school students.

Camille Terrier is a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT's School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a laboratory focused on education, human capital, and income distribution.
Camille works on a wide range of education issues. One of her project looks at the long term consequences of teachers’ gender bias on student achievement and choice of major in high school. Camille also partnered with the French Ministry of Education to initiate a new research group on the assignment of teachers to schools. This collaboration gave rise to suggestions on how to reform the current teacher assignment process to increase the number of teachers who manage to impact schools.
Having spent two years at the London School of Economics, Camille is engaged in two research projects on education in the U.K. One looks at the performance and management practices of principals in further education colleges in England. The second project runs the first impact evaluation of University Technical Colleges that were introduced in England in 2010.
Since joining the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative, Camille has been investigating the impact of charter school expansion on non-charter students in Massachusetts.
Camille is a member of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics. She has a bachelor’s degree from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France, and a PhD from the Paris School of Economics.

2:30 PM

Speaker: Energy and Carbon Credits in China

Location: Dining Room 4 (6th floor, room 632)

China’s increasingly vocal position on the importance of renewable energy and the global response to climate change includes a commitment to national quotas for greenhouse gases. Susan Zhu is actively involved in this transition as an innovator in leveraging blockchain for China’s energy and carbon management. Join this presentation on the value of such a platform, expectations for the technology in the near-term and the far reaching, long-term applications.

As one of the leaders of low-carbon industry, Susan Zhu founded Shanghai Treasure Carbon New Energy Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange Hong Kong Division, Treasure Carbon Asset Management Co., Ltd., and will establish TC Beijing, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Wuhan, Guizhou Divisions, serving as the Chairman and CEO. She was nominated as the candidate of the Social Impact Award of Education UK Alumni Awards in 2016, and was designated as the low-carbon expert of Hong Kong Financial Services Institute and the Center for China and Globalization. Susan successfully led the Low Carbon Financial Innovation and Cooperation Forum in Shanghai & Hong Kong, and participated in the World Climate Conference, Davos World Economic Forum and Western Returned Scholars Association frequently. Susan holds a Masters in Marketing from Durham University. She is also an active philanthropist; she supports charities to fight climate change.

Technology and digitization are changing the way financial products and services are offered to individuals and businesses around the world. In developed and developing markets, the financial sector is expected to become more efficient and affordable for consumers, but simultaneously to challenge traditional business models. Panelists will explore the scalability of such solutions and the related hypotheses of leading investors and entrepreneurs. How are these panelists catalyzing innovation and what predictions do they hold for the future?

Alan Martinez
VP of Global Delivery, EFL

Alan Martinez leads the account management team to ensure EFL partner success. He has partnered with chief executives and other senior leaders of the top banks providing access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs and consumers across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. After starting his lending career at ShoreBank in Chicago, he joined ShoreBank International where he founded the company’s credit scoring practice and led micro and SME finance programs across the globe.

Alan earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Jamieson Odell has eight years' buy-side experience covering Africa and five years Emerging Markets investment banking and finance experience. Prior to joining Caravel, Mr. Odell was an investment banking Associate in J.P. Morgan’s New York Financial Institutions coverage team (2005-2006). He was an investment banking Analyst in J.P. Morgan’s South Africa Corporate Finance team and ABS group in New York (2002-2005), focusing on transportation, mining, financial services and retail. Jamieson has an MBA from the Wharton School and A.B. from Princeton University. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Tavneet Suri is an Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her expertise is as a development economist, specialized in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tavneet’s work cuts across multiple sectors related to international development, such as digital financial services for the poor, agriculture, and governance. Over the last decade she has spent a significant amount of time in the field across Sub-Saharan Africa. Tavneet is Scientific Director for Africa for J-PAL; a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research; an affiliate of BREAD and CEPR; and Lead Academic of the Kenya Program at the International Growth Center. She holds a BA in economics from Cambridge University, UK, and PhD in economics from Yale University.

As the vice president of the Center’s Investing in Inclusive Finance (IIF) Program, Ms. Drake leads the Africa Board Fellowship Program, which is dedicated to strengthening governance and improving risk management and strategy for CEOs and board directors of sub-Saharan African financial institutions. She also directs the Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC), a membership organization of private entities making equity investments in financial institutions in the developing world.
Ms. Drake is co-editor of The Commercialization of Microfinance: Balancing Business and Development, and the co-author of Alchemists for the Poor: NGOs as Financial Institutions. Prior to joining Accion, Ms. Drake was a banking specialist at the World Bank and a commercial banker. She serves on the boards of the Calmeadow Foundation and Root Capital, and Root’s Peruvian subsidiary, ACCDER.
Ms. Drake is a graduate of Georgetown University and holds an MBA from Babson College. She speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.

3:15 PM

Break

3:30 PM

Keynote Panel: Championing Sustainability

Location: (7th floor)

For some, sustainability is an obvious and necessary part of investment research; for others, it is a threat to traditional finance objectives. Sustainability advocates often meet hostility or indifference, and can find themselves marginalized in the broader investment conversations. Championing sustainability in finance requires dedication, perseverance, and a sincere understanding of organizational change.

The closing keynote panel will feature three finance and sustainability experts who have successfully “championed” sustainability at their respective organizations. They will discuss the approaches to organizational change and decisionmaking that yielded positive results, and their expected paths forward in supporting sustainable finance.

Beth Lowery
Senior Director for Sustainability and ESG, TPG Capital

Beth Lowery is a Senior Director for Sustainability and ESG at TPG Capital. She joined TPG in September 2012 after a 20 year career with General Motors Company where she was Corporate Vice President, Environment, Energy & Safety. Mrs. Lowery held various positions at GM, including General Counsel- North America. She also was Senior Knowledge Leader, Environmental Responsibility and a Principal of GreenOrder at LRN; Partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn; law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice G. Mennen Williams, as well as serving on several non-profit boards. Her primary responsibilities within TPG include leading the Sustainability and ESG program development, strategy and deployment across the Firm, engaging with portfolio companies to build sustainable businesses, and assisting deal teams on due diligence matters. Ms. Lowery is a member of the PRI Private Equity Advisory Committee and the Corporate Eco Forum Leadership Council.

Carol Geremia
President, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.

Carol W. Geremia is president of MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc. (MFSI) and co-head of Global Distribution for MFS Investment Management® (MFS®). She is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee. In these roles, she oversees the management of the company’s global institutional business, which includes relationships with corporate and public retirement plans, sovereign wealth plans, investment authorities and endowments and foundations.

Carol joined MFS in 1984 and was named president of MFSI in 2004 and co-head of Global Distribution in 2011. Prior to running the global institutional business, Carol was president of MFS Retirement Services, which was dedicated to servicing US plan sponsors and their participants. Carol is a member of the City Year Seven Generations Board. She also serves as a board member for the MFS Charitable Foundation and as an Advisory Council member for Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc.

Jackie VanderBrug is a managing director and investment strategist at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management within the Global Wealth & Investment Management division of Bank of America. In this role, she is responsible for defining and executing investment strategies focusing on U.S. Trust® Impact Investing initiatives across all asset classes. She is a regular contributor of the thought leadership reports – IMPACT FORUM– with topics on sustainability, millennials and corporate strategy that align with investment strategies for high net worth individuals, families and foundations. She is a regular speaker and presenter representing U.S. Trust at conferences including the Nantucket Project, Clinton Global Initiative, Aspen Ideas Festival, and Social Capital Media (SOCAP).

Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Jackie was managing director at Criterion Ventures, a hybrid consulting firm where she worked with high net worth individuals and large non-profits on impact strategies and led the development of the field of Gender Lens Investing; she also led the Business Development of the start-up team at iBasis; and, co-founded WORK IN PROGRESS, a non-profit social enterprise focused on career development for underprivileged youth. She started her career as an domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Congress and as a strategy consultant for Fortune 500 firms.

Jackie received her M.B.A from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and her B.S. in Mathematics from Calvin College. Jackie is an Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow and serves on the Board of the Trustees of the Donations.

Jason Jay is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Director of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan.

He teaches courses on leadership, strategy, and innovation for sustainable business. Jason engages students and alumni in hands-on projects with leading companies and organizations. These efforts help build a community of innovators for sustainability that includes MIT students and alumni, faculty and researchers, with partners in business, government, NGOs, and hybrid organizations.

Jason's own research focuses on how people navigate the tensions inherent in the quest for sustainability, as they simultaneously pursue their own self-interest and the flourishing of human and other life. This investigation includes deep case studies of cross-sectoral collaboration and hybrid organizations that combine social and business goals. It also includes action research efforts that help people cultivate authentic, effective conversations about sustainability and escape common pitfalls of excessive moral and intellectual certainty. Energy efficiency has proven a useful context to explore these questions; Jay has conducted an ethnographic study of the Cambridge Energy Alliance, and serves as a research partner and facilitator for the EDF Climate Corps program and its network of companies.

Alongside these efforts, Jason is an active leader of sustainability efforts across MIT. Through the MIT Sustainable Societies Research Group, he brings together scholars from across the Institute to examine the invention, implementation, and transformation required for a sustainable society. He has helped improve the energy and environmental footprint of the MIT campus by founding the MIT Generator and the 'Greening MIT' community engagement campaign, and serves as founding member of the Campus Energy “Walk the Talk” Task Force.

Prior to MIT, Jay ran an Internet startup, traveled around the world, taught kindergarten in a progressive preschool, and worked as a consultant with Dialogos International, where he consulted on leadership development and organizational change for major international corporations and NGO's including BP, the World Bank, and the Instituto Libertad y Democracia.

Jay holds an AB in psychology and a Master's in education from Harvard University, and a PhD in Organization Studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Session descriptions

Introduction

Location: (7th floor)

Robert Eccles

CHAIRMAN, Arabesque Partners

Robert G. Eccles is the world’s foremost expert on integrated reporting and a leader on how companies and investors can create sustainable strategies. He is the Founding Chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and one of the founders of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). He has recently joined the board of Mistra Centre for Sustainable Markets (MISUM) in Sweden. Bob is Chairman of Arabesque Partners, the first ESG Quant Fund, with headquarters in London and a research group in Frankfurt. In 2011, Bob was selected as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, for his extensive, positive contribution to building trust in business, and in 2014 and 2015 was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Bob is the award-winning author of a dozen books including seminal works on integrated reporting, sustainability, and the role of business in society. He received an S.B. in Mathematics and an S.B. in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both degrees in 1973) and an A.M. (1975) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (1979) from Harvard University. Bob joined the faculty of Harvard Business School that year and received tenure in 1989.

Fireside Chat with George Serafeim

Location: (7th floor)

George Serafeim of HBS and Jem Hudson of Breckinridge Capital will open the Summit with a discussion of the past, present and future of sustainability in finance. Why do materiality and sustainability measurement matter in finance? How can investors and big businesses lead a shift to a more sustainable economy? And how can students and professionals participate?

Jem Hudson

DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT, Breckinridge Capital Advisors

Jem Hudson is the Director of Engagement at Breckinridge Capital Advisors, a Boston-based fixed income investment management firm with over $27 billion in assets under management. In her role, Jem is primarily responsible for helping strengthen Breckinridge’s ESG and sustainability-related dialogue with a range of key stakeholders including issuers, clients, industry peers, and thought leaders. To this end, Jem leads Breckinridge’s issuer engagement efforts, develops thought leadership including Breckinridge’s ESG Newsletter, and collaborates with various departments across the firm in order to bolster Breckinridge’s sustainability-related efforts. She joined the firm in January 2016 and has over 11 years of financial services and sustainability experience. Prior to Breckinridge, Jem was the CEO of Caldy Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm she founded to advise financial institutions seeking to expand their presence in sustainable investing. Before Caldy Group, Jem was a researcher with Professor Michael E. Porter at Harvard Business School, where she made contributions in the areas of competitive strategy, competitiveness of nations and creating shared value. Jem started her career as an analyst in Deutsche Bank's investment banking division. She serves as a steering committee member for High Meadows Institute’s Path to Value initiative and for the Wharton School’s Social Impact Alumni Group. She is also a senior alumni advisor to the Harvard College Impact Investing Group. Jem holds an AB from Harvard College and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

George Serafeim

JAKURSKI FAMILY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, Harvard Business School

George Serafeim is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has taught courses in the MBA and doctoral programs, chaired Executive Education programs, authored more than 100 articles and business cases, and presented his research in more than 100 conferences and seminars. He has spoken at major events in over 60 countries around the world and is one of the most popular business authors, according to rankings of the Social Science Research Network.
Professor Serafeim's research interests are international, focusing on corporate valuation, governance and reporting issues. His work has been published in the most prestigious academic and practitioner journals including Journal of Finance and Harvard Business Review. Professor Serafeim has extensive experience as a senior advisor and board member in both the non-profit and private sectors. He is a co-founder of KKS Advisors and a senior advisor to Calvert Research and Management. Professor Serafeim earned his doctorate in business administration at Harvard Business School and a master's degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He grew up in Athens, Greece.

While investors are increasingly interested in sustainability and companies are adopting and publishing CSR strategies at record rates, the availability of high quality sustainability data remains inconsistent. In this context, the three panelists will discuss current applications and processes for incorporating sustainability data in research and investing, as well as the challenges inherent in accessing neutral and reliable information to inform smart investment decisions.

Joshua Kazdin

VICE PRESIDENT, SCIENTIFIC ACTIVE EQUITY, BlackRock

Joshua Kazdin is a member of BlackRock's Scientific Active Equity team (SAE). He is responsible for developing SAE's Impact Investing platform and conducting alpha-generating research on stock selection, top-down and thematic insights across active global long only and long short equity funds.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Mr. Kazdin was a research analyst at Lazard Asset Management and a research associate at International Strategy & Investment Group.

Mr. Kazdin earned a BS, with distinction, in economics and political science from Duke University in 2008 and an MFin degree in finance from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011.

Mike McCreless

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF STRATEGY & IMPACT, Root Capital

Mike McCreless is Senior Director of Strategy & Impact at Root Capital, where he oversees social & environmental due diligence and impact evaluation, and facilitates long-term and annual strategic planning and organizational development. His article "Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier" was featured in the Winter 2016 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. He previously consulted for Monitor Company and conducted research for Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. Mike holds an M.B.A. and an M.P.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Yale University.

Sarah Smith

DIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS (NORTH AMERICA), Sustainalytics

Since 2006, Sarah has worked in the area of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research, first as an analyst working on customized client projects and deliverables, then moving into a client relations role. Focused primarily on the U.S. market, Sarah helps prospective clients identify their ESG research needs and find the responsible investment solution that suits them best. She communicates regularly with clients, providing education and support for all stakeholders, helping to identify new markets, and supporting their sales and marketing efforts through meetings and presentations. Sarah also speaks regularly on the topics of responsible investing and ESG investing at conferences.
Prior to joining Sustainalytics Sarah worked for an English as a second language teaching program in South Korea and studied gender equality and its relations to sustainable development in Mexico. Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Development from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario.

Jake Cohen

SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND MASTER'S PROGRAMS, MIT Sloan School of Management

Jake Cohen is Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Master’s Programs and a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Law at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He oversees MIT Sloan’s portfolio of degree programs, as well as the Offices of Admissions, Student Life, and Career Development. Jake is responsible for setting strategy for the undergraduate and all Master's programs, including the new Master of Business Analytics program. Jake is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council, and MIT’s Title IX officer for MIT Sloan.

From 2008 to 2011, Jake was the Dean of the MBA Program at INSEAD, directing strategy and operations for campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. Under his leadership, INSEAD expanded its degree programs and received its highest rankings ever among business school MBA programs. Jake also served as a member of the Deans’ Leadership Team, overseeing every aspect of the academic experience in all programs. In 2012, he spent his post-deanship sabbatical teaching financial management as a Judge Fellow at Cambridge University and as a Research Fellow studying corporate social responsibility reporting at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.

Before becoming dean, Jake was director of the INSEAD-PricewaterhouseCoopers Research Initiative on High Performance Organizations. He was founder, director, and professor of INSEAD’s Business Foundations Program, as well as Affiliate Professor of Accounting and Control and Business Law. Before joining INSEAD in 2003, he was a Senior Teaching Fellow at Harvard Business School in the Accounting & Management Group.

Prior to his academic career, Jake worked as an accountant at KPMG LLP in Philadelphia, and as a mergers & acquisition consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York City.

Jake holds a JD in corporate law from Syracuse University, an MS in accounting from Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, and a BS in accounting from Lehigh University. He has completed six executive certificates at Harvard Business School; the AVIRA certificate for senior executives at INSEAD; and is currently participating in Leader to Leader (L2L), MIT’s nationally recognized best-practice leadership development program.

Panel: Opportunities in Energy Finance

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

Sustainable energy solutions often struggle to access both growth-stage capital and the institutional investors needed for large-scale, capital market financings. The long-term nature of infrastructure investments, notoriously difficult technological hurdles, and unpredictable regulatory environment create a harsh climate for venture capital seeking near-term, high-IRR payoffs, and continue to make participation difficult for institutional investors seeking predictable, low-cost, liquid cash flows. This panel will focus on the novel approaches, partnerships and structures bridging such funding gaps. Which investment vehicles will succeed in funding a sustainable energy future, and who gets to decide?

Jim Miller

VICE PRESIDENT OF WORLDWIDE OPERATIONS, Google

Jim Miller is vice president of worldwide Operations at Google. In this role, he has responsibility for global operations, planning, supply chain and new product introduction for Google’s IT infrastructure and Google Fiber. Additionally, he has responsibility for Google Energy and Corporate & Social Responsibility. He is also actively engaged with Google’s efforts in the area of Computational Genomics and Biology as the executive sponsor.
Prior to joining Google in 2010, Jim was executive vice president of Sanmina-SCI Corporation, one of the world’s largest electronic manufacturing service providers, where he had responsibility for their industrial, clean tech, multimedia and automotive businesses.
Jim has held a variety of leadership roles throughout his career. He has held numerous executive leadership roles in operations and supply chain management at Cisco, Amazon.com, Teledesic LLC, Intel and IBM.
Jim has a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a “MIT Leaders for Manufacturing” Fellow.

Dennis Costello

MANAGING PARTNER, Braemar Energy Ventures

Dennis R. Costello is a Managing Partner of Braemar Energy Ventures II and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Costello has been an active venture capital investment professional for over twenty-five years. From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Costello was with Advent International, where he focused on early‑stage to later‑stage middle market companies. From 1995 to 2000, he served as the chief investment officer for the North American operations of Advent International. Mr. Costello is also a managing director in Rock Maple Ventures, an early‑stage technology venture fund in Boston. Prior to Advent International, Mr. Costello was a general partner of Zero Stage Capital of Pennsylvania, a venture capital partnership investing in early‑stage technology companies in Pennsylvania. Mr. Costello began his career in alternative energy with positions at Midwest Research Institute and a member of the original staff of the National Solar Energy Research Institute (“SERI”), now renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”). During that period, Mr. Costello published numerous papers and articles on the economic and market issues of solar energy commercialization. He is also the author of the Dow‑Jones Irwin book New Venture Analysis: Research, Planning, and Finance. Mr. Costello holds an MS degree in business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. He also holds an MA in economics from Ohio State University and a BA in economics from the State University of New York (SUNY), College at Fredonia.

Tibor Toth

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF INVESTMENTS, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

Tibor has over 20 years of private equity & venture capital investment and entrepreneurial experience. Tibor heads the Investments Division at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). MassCEC invests equity and debt in early-stage and growing clean technology companies, provides incentives for the adoption of renewable energy, and develops programs to prepare workers for the next generation of clean energy jobs. Tibor has focused in the clean energy sector since early 2010, when he joined a clean energy company, QGEN, as its CFO. Previously, Tibor has worked at Babson Capital, Ascent Venture Partners, Lee Capital and Berkshire Partners. Tibor is an Adjunct Professor at the Brandeis International Business School and serves as a director or observer on several corporate and non-profit Boards. Tibor holds an SB in Management Science from MIT, completed the Masters of Management and Manufacturing (MMM) program at Northwestern University, receiving an MBA from the Kellogg School and an engineering master’s degree from the McCormick School, and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst charter holder.

David Miller is Founder and Executive Managing Director of CEVG. An engineer by training, he brings over twenty years of technology startup management experience and over eighteen years of seed stage investing experience. He has been on the board of directors or advisory board of several clean energy companies, including MyEnergy, Azima DLI, and Cambrian Innovation and has mentored many others. He also has an appointment as Research Affiliate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Previously, Mr. Miller founded several companies, including Quantum Telecom Solutions, which developed software for programmable switching equipment. He grew the company to profitability, with over 100% annual growth over a four-year period, and then negotiated venture financing and sold the company to Excel Switching Corp. a public company that shortly thereafter was itself acquired by Lucent Technologies. At Lucent, he served as Director in the New Ventures Group, where he managed and evaluated a diverse set of early stage investments.
Mr. Miller is a New England Chapter Director of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2, www.e2.org), a national community of business leaders who advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity and has developed relationships with state and federal policy makers to support the growth of the clean energy industry. He received his BS and MS in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT, and completed his doctorate at MIT’s Lab for Energy and the Environment, where he studied the utilization and commercialization of distributed generation and energy efficiency measures.

Panel: Public / Private Partnerships in Sustainable Finance

Location: Dining Room 5 (6th floor, room 624)

In recent years, the private sector’s interest in sustainable investments and the development of projects with positive social and environmental impact has grown exponentially. Because such projects impact industries with historically strong public intervention, public-private partnerships are helping to create and to scale innovative investment products, to diversify risks and to better allocate resources. This panel’s speakers represent organizations that are bridging public/private divides to change the landscape of sustainable finance. How are such partnerships ensuring a more efficient and impactful use of resources?

Barbara Humpton serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc., a federally-compliant U.S. organization and leading integrator of Siemens’ innovative products, technologies and services for programs and requirements at federal government agencies and departments in the areas of energy generation, transmission, distribution and efficiency, infrastructure modernization, industrial applications and healthcare. Mrs. Humpton is also an Officer/Director member of the Board of Directors of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc.

Prior to joining Siemens, Humpton served as a Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton where she was responsible for program performance and new business development for technology consulting in the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. Earlier, Humpton was a Vice President at Lockheed Martin Corporation with responsibility for Biometrics Programs, Border and Transportation Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection, including such critical programs as the FBI’s Next Generation Identification and the TSA’s Transportation Workers’ Identification Credential.

Humpton is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a degree in Mathematics. She serves on the Government Contracts Advisory Board of the George Washington University Law School. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband David.

Shu Dar Yao

DIRECTOR OF CAPITAL FORMATION AND INVESTOR RELATIONS, Social Finance

Social Finance is a nonprofit organization which is leading the development of Pay for Success financing and Social Impact Bonds, an innovative public-private partnership that mobilizes capital to drive social progress.

Prior to joining Social Finance, Shu Dar was a Vice President at Citi, focusing on inclusive finance and digital acceleration. In this role, she was responsible for advising clients in the design and execution of innovative market-based development and poverty-alleviation strategies. Prior to Citi, Shu Dar was a consultant at Bain & Company. Prior to Bain & Company, she worked at the World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm International Finance Corporation. There she focused on Global Infrastructure project finance, with a focus on transportation. During the financial crisis, she took a leadership role in structuring, fundraising, and executing the Infrastructure Crisis Facility, a global $4 billion infrastructure investment fund designed and funded jointly by development finance institutions. Before that, Shu Dar was an investment banker at JPMorgan, working in global M&A, Syndicated Leveraged Finance and Private Equity Sponsors.

Shu Dar received an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and graduated Magna Cum Laude from NYU, Stern School of Business with a BS in Finance and International Business.

Mike Reynolds

DIRECTOR, Ultra Capital

A skilled investment professional with 10 years of experience in project finance and risk analysis for infrastructure assets. CEO and co-founder of EverVest, a software platform for financial modeling and risk analysis of renewable energy projects. Investment banker at Goldman Sachs focusing on the infrastructure, transportation and public sectors. Led and managed over $15BN in transactions including project financings, asset portfolio sales, securitization, and corporate financings. MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Jack W. Goss Fellow for Entrepreneurship; BS, State University of New York at Albany.

Bernardo Weaver

SENIOR PPP CONSULTANT, World Bank Group

Bernardo Weaver is a senior PPP consultant at the World Bank Group and an Adjunct Professor of M&A at Georgetown Business School. Mr. Weaver currently helps manage the World Bank PPP program in Central America. It covers PPP training, project selection, advisory and structuring in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Mr. Weaver is constantly travelling to Latin America and often meets with Ministers and Secretaries of State to advance PPP matters in these countries. He also provides support to PPP deals in Africa, and South America. Previously, Mr. Weaver advised the investment fund and banking industry in Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. He has published extensively on PPPs, including a book on Value for Money in PPP projects. Mr. Weaver is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown Business School teaching M&A. Previously, he taught M&A at FGV Business School in Brazil. Mr. Weaver has law degrees from Brazil and the United States, and a MBA in finance from the Wharton School of Business.

Keynote Speaker

Location: (7th floor)

In today’s rapidly evolving global context, sustainability is driving a restructuring of major world systems. Generation Investment Management has been and continues to be a leader in building sustainable investment strategies that are adapted to a modern global economy, support a sustainable future, and generate traditional market-rate returns. Tammie Arnold will discuss Generation’s investment strategy and market outlook, and how that impacts the broader investment landscape today and in the future.

Tammie Arnold

PARTNER & HEAD OF THE GLOBAL CLIENT TEAM, Generation

Tammie joined Generation in 2014 and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She is the Head of the Global Client Team. Prior to joining Generation, Tammie worked in a variety of capacities at PIMCO from 1993 to 2013. She was responsible for PIMCO’s global sustainability initiatives, led the global advisory business from London, was head of global wealth management, was co-head of the product management group, and served as a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to joining PIMCO, Tammie was a global equities portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors.
Tammie graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in Finance, and received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Panel: Water Ownership - Rights and Responsibilities

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

Private investor participation in water rights and water management has accelerated. Correspondingly, consumers, investors and municipalities are grappling with the merits and considerations of such private sector involvement. Panelists representing private investment firms, policy organizations and academia will evaluate the state of water rights and private capital today and what to consider looking ahead. How can private investors meet financial interests, collaborate with diverse stakeholders and help protect an increasingly scarce resource and those who depend on it?

Adam Schempp

SENIOR ATTORNEY AND DIRECTOR OF THE WESTERN WATER PROGRAM, Environmental Law Institute

Adam Schempp is a Senior Attorney and Director of the Western Water Program at the Environmental Law Institute. He leads the Institute’s work on water rights, allocation, and use. Mr. Schempp also works extensively on water quality and marine management issues. Much of his research focuses on identifying opportunities to meet sustainability objectives through existing laws and potential legal developments. Among other reports and articles, Mr. Schempp authored Western Water in the 21st Century: Policies and Programs that Stretch Supplies in a Prior Appropriation World, Five Things to Consider When Developing and Adapting Water Policies and Programs in the West, and At the Confluence of the Clean Water Act and Prior Appropriation: The Challenge and Ways Forward. Before joining ELI, Mr. Schempp clerked in the legal department of the Denver Water Board and for the Native American Rights Fund. He holds a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Doug Kenney

DIRECTOR OF THE WESTERN WATER POLICY PROGRAM, University of Colorado Law School in the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment

Doug Kenney is Director of the Western Water Policy Program, located within the University of Colorado Law School in the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment. He has written extensively on several water-related issues, including law and policy reform, river basin and watershed-level planning, climate change adaptation, and water resource economics. Among his publications are In Search of Sustainable Water Management: International Lessons for the American West and Beyond (2005, Edward Elgar Publishing) and The Water-Energy Nexus in the Western United States (2011, Edward Elgar Publishing). He is also affiliated with the CU/NOAA Western Water Assessment (exploring the link between climate change/variability and western US water management) and is a member of the CU Environmental Studies faculty. Dr. Kenney has served as a consultant to a variety of local, state, multi-state, and federal agencies, including several Interior Department agencies, EPA, the US Forest Service, and special commissions; and national governments and NGOs in Asia and Africa. Additionally, he has made presentations in 20 states (and the District of Columbia), 7 nations, and 4 continents. He has a B.A. in biology from the University of Colorado, a M.S. in Natural Resources Policy and Administration from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Renewable Natural Resource Studies from the University of Arizona.

Marc Robert

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, Water Asset Management LLC

Marc Robert is presently a Managing Member, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Water Asset Management LLC. Since 2006 he has been responsible for the oversight of business development, operations, compliance, and investor relations for the firm’s public and private equity strategies. Mr. Robert has been a guest lecturer on the water industry and water policy at a variety of renowned institutions including the Brookings Institute, Harvard’s Kennedy School, and Stockholm Water Week. He is currently Chair of Board of Trustees of WaterAid America, $100 mm annual global water and sanitation focused NGO.

Prior to Water Asset Management LLC, Mr. Robert worked at Morgan Stanley, serving as the Managing Director, Global Head of US equity research sales and as the Managing Director responsible for Global Marketing of Morgan Stanley’s equity research product through Japan, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Before Morgan Stanley, Mr. Robert managed sales for various institutional investors in the UK, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Robert graduated from Brown University in 1982 with an AB in Religious Studies.

Julian Koelbel

POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW, MIT Sloan

Julian is a postdoctoral fellow at MIT Sloan, affiliated with the System Dynamics Group and the Sustainability Initiative.
Julian has studied extensively the relationship between sustainability and credit risk, focusing on the role of the media, rating agencies, and activists. His recent projects focus on (1) the methodology of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and (2) the financial risks of water scarcity and the unique strategic dilemma that water as a common pool resource poses to companies.

Professionally, Julian has been working as an analyst at RepRisk AG, as researcher at the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem in Bethlehem (ARIJ), and as an auditor in sustainable asset management at the private bank Vontobel.

Julian received his PhD from ETH Zurich, at the chair for Sustainability and Technology. Prior to that, Julian completed an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford and a BSc in Environmental Science at ETH Zurich.

Fireside Chat: Family Office Investments for Profit and with Purpose

Location: Dining Room 4 (6th floor, room 632)

Heidi Pickett and Liesel Pritzker Simmons will explore how individuals and family offices are leading impact investing — and as a result generating ESG impact, building the business case for integrating impact in investments across asset classes and mobilizing others around the tools and the purpose needed to foster lasting change. Specifically, this panel will speak to Blue Haven Initiative’s motivation, experience and accomplishments.

Liesel Pritzker Simmons

CO-FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, Blue Haven Initiative

Liesel Pritzker Simmons is Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, where she oversees a portfolio structured to generate competitive financial returns and address social and environmental challenges. The portfolio spans asset classes, from traditional equities and direct investments to philanthropic programs.

Liesel co-founded Blue Haven with her husband, Ian Simmons. Their investment portfolios, restructured to be impact-driven, became the foundation of Blue Haven, one of the first family offices created with impact investing as its focus. In addition to working closely with entrepreneurs, nonprofits and co-investors on companies and initiatives that create social, environmental and financial value, Liesel develops strategic partnerships with organizations that support and advance more informed investing.

Heidi Pickett

DIRECTOR, MIT Sloan Master of Finance Program

Ms. Heidi V. Pickett is the Director of the MIT Sloan Master of Finance program with responsibility for developing and implementing new programing, engaging external stakeholders, and executing strategies supporting the mission of producing the next generation of global financial leaders. She leads study tours in Asia and the UK focused on finance, monetary policy and global markets. Ms. Pickett also serves on the policy committees for the Master of Finance Program and Sloan Undergraduate Education.
In addition to Ms. Pickett’s responsibilities leading the Master of Finance program, she co-leads MIT Sloan’s new initiative Family Leaders With Purpose (FLWP). The mission is to build and grow a community of innovative family leaders with a passion for addressing humanities greatest challenges, and provide them with the tools, frameworks, skills and global connectivity to leading-edge experts and entrepreneurs.

With over 20 years in financial services, Ms. Pickett has expertise in corporate development, business strategy, and global operations. Prior to joining MIT Sloan, she served as Senior Managing Director at State Street Global Markets, where she managed global business integration and led the sovereign wealth fund initiative.

In March 2011, Ms. Pickett was named Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies where she spent time in Oman during a period of turmoil, protests, and profound change throughout the Middle East. She has focused on Arab cultural, economic, political, and social diversity. Ms. Pickett is currently working towards a diploma in Islamic Finance.

Ms. Pickett is the President of the Verrill Foundation; her interests include global and local community focus on the education and well being of women and girls. She is a member of the Board for Invest in Girls. In the past, Ms. Pickett has been a member of the International Women’s Health Coalition’s Leadership Council, Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts Leading Women Committee and Strong Women Strong Girls Development Committee.

Ms. Pickett received a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bryant University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from Bentley’s McCallum School of Business and completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School.

Panel: Labor - Investing in Good Jobs

Location: Dining Room 5 (6th floor, room 624)

The companies and organizations that drive our labor market and workforce look to investors as key stakeholders. On this panel, investors will explore the premise that in creating ‘good’ jobs, employers create value for themselves, customers, and investors. How do they think about investing in the context of labor, and how and why should companies think about investing in ‘good’ jobs?

Barbara Dyer is Senior Lecturer and Executive Director, MIT Sloan Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative. She arrived at MIT in January, 2017 having served as President & CEO of The Hitachi Foundation, and senior advisor on Hitachi’s CSR strategy since 1998. During her tenure at The Hitachi Foundation, Ms. Dyer sharpened the Foundation’s focus on the role of business in society, with a particular emphasis on the role of business in ameliorating poverty in America. Ms. Dyer was a Trustee of Clark University and a member the American University School of Public Affairs Dean’s Advisory Council. She served as co-founder and first Chair of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Dyer had an extensive career in public policy as co-founder of the National Academy of Public Administration’s Alliance for Redesigning Government, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Policy Studies with the National Governors’ Association affiliate, the Council of Governors’ Policy Advisors, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior in the Carter Administration, and Deputy Executive Director of the Western Regional Office of the Council of State Governments. She is a graduate of Clark University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Nancy Pfund

FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, DBL Partners

Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm whose goal is to combine top-​​tier financial returns with meaningful social, environmental and economic returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests. Nancy is also the Founder of DBL Investors. As a leading player in the growing field of “impact investing”, DBL has helped to reveal the power of venture capital to promote social change and environmental improvement, and Ms. Pfund writes and speaks frequently of impact investing.

Ms. Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; Farmers Business Network, The Muse, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Off-​​Grid Electric, Primus Power, and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora. She also served on the board of SolarCity from 2008 until its acquisition by Tesla in Decebmer 2016, on both the audit and compensation committees, and chairing its corporate governance committee; Prior to founding DBL Investors, Ms. Pfund was a Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan, having started her investment career at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984. Previously, Ms. Pfund worked at Intel Corporation, the State of California, Stanford University and the Sierra Club.

Ms. Pfund was featured #17 in the 2014 FORTUNE Inaugural World’s Top 25 Eco-​​Innovators; and appeared on Fast Company’s 2016 List of Most Creative People in Business. She is the author, along with Benjamin Healey of the widely-cited report on the history of U.S. energy subsidies entitled, “What Would Jefferson Do? The Historical Role of Federal Subsidies in Shaping America’s Energy Future.” Ms. Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Jason Britton

FOUNDER & CIO, Good Companies Investment Strategy

As former Managing Director, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Wealth Management, Jason created and managed the Socially Innovative Investing (S2I) strategy in the investments group within U.S. Trust. Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Jason served as the group head for the community investing team at Lehman Brothers. It was there that he and Barbara Dyer collaborated with the F.B. Heron Foundation on building a Community Investment Index as foundations began looking for ways to align their investments with their missions. Jason is now taking his focus on investing in companies that generate environmental and social value to new heights with the Good Companies Investment Strategy. He centers on deepening our understanding of risk and how investment strategies that genuinely assess firm governance, ownership structures, operations and diversity actually are good investments.

Sarah Kalloch

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Good Jobs Initiative

Sarah Kalloch serves as the Executive Director the Good Jobs Initiative, which aims to improve the jobs and lives of low wage workers in a way that also benefits companies and their customers. She builds tools and frameworks, supports research, and advises companies on how to implement the Good Jobs Strategy, which combines operational excellence with investment in people to provide value for employees, customers and investors. An MIT Sloan MBA graduate, Sarah was elected president of Sloan Net Impact and was managing director of the 2016 MIT Sustainability Summit. Sarah did her MBA internship at Apple, where she focused on strategic manufacturing and design approaches to reduce environmental impacts in Apple’s supply chain. Prior to Sloan, Sarah worked at Oxfam America on global food security policy with both governments and private sector leaders. At Nobel-Prize winning Physicians for Human Rights, Sarah served on the executive management team, co-founding two health and human rights organizations in Uganda and Kenya and advocating for billions of dollars in HIV/AIDS and global health funding. She received a B.A, magna cum laude, in social studies from Harvard College.

Panel: Education - What Should We Be Financing?

Location: Dining Room 3 (6th floor, room 640)

A discussion of Funding the Future would be incomplete without mention of the children who will inherit this future. Investing in education systems and models presents opportunities for long-term, wide-scale impact. Panelists will speak to a wide array of potential investments -- from venture capital and edtech to charter schools and public school management. How can investors play a role in developing the models and producing the data that will support high-quality capital allocation and results? And how should we think about measuring outcomes in a way that supports future investment decisions?

Victor Reinoso

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, Independent Sector

Victor is chief operating officer of Independent Sector, the nation’s leading voice for the charitable sector, and founder of Hopscotch Ventures, a mission-driven investment and advisory firm.
As an entrepreneur, investor & advisor Victor has worked with a portfolio of early stage ventures including Decision Science Labs (acquired by Schoolzilla), TenMarks (acquired by Amazon), LearnZillion, and Ellevation. Victor was previously Entrepreneur in Residence at the NewSchools Venture Fund and Senior Advisor on Innovation to the President of Georgetown University, where he helped develop the University’s MOOC strategy and launch a new executive master’s in leadership. He was the District of Columbia’s first deputy mayor for education, where he oversaw the mayor’s takeover of the DC Public Schools, a $1+ billion operating budget, and the largest capital investment in public buildings in DC history.
Previously, Victor was founder & CEO of RadioFutura (an early streaming media company), and a consultant to leading brands including AOL, PBS, Verizon. He has served on multiple boards and is a Trustee of the District of Columbia Public Library system.
Victor is a member & moderator of the Aspen Global Leaders Network and the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship. He has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from MIT. The son of Peruvian immigrants, Victor grew up in a Spanish-only household and lives in Washington, DC with his family.

Robbin Chapman is Associate Provost and Academic Director of Diversity & Inclusion, and Lecturer of Education, Wellesley College. Her research is on design and use of digital tools for learning, technologies for learning in public spaces, equity issues as they relate to learning technologies and technology-driven pedagogy, and the intersection of community, cognition, and computation. Publications include the book, The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities and chapters in Social Capital and Information Technology, Falling for Science: Objects in Mind, Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators, and The Wiley Handbook of Learning Technology.

In 2016, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology established the Dr. Robbin Chapman Excellence Through Adversity Award. The new award will be presented annually to a senior at MIT from an underrepresented group who has demonstrated excellence and leadership."

Robbin currently serves on a number of boards and as regional liaison for the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program, administered through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She enjoys working with her network of colleagues and their institutions to explore creative ways of leveraging technologies for learning, and enhancing diversity and leadership skills.

Parag Pathak

PROFESSOR OF MICROECONOMICS, MIT

Parag A. Pathak is the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics at MIT, founding co-director of the NBER Working Group on Market Design, and founder of MIT's School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a laboratory focused on education, human capital, and the income distribution. In 2005, based on work in his PhD thesis, Boston's school committee adopted a new mechanism for student placement, citing the desire to make it easier for participants to navigate and to level the playing field for the city's families. He has also helped to design the Chicago, Denver, Newark, New Orleans, New York, and Washington DC school choice systems.

His work on market design and education was recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. In 2012, he was selected to give the Shapley Lecture at GAMES2012 as a distinguished game theorist under age 40. In 2013, he was appointed as Mayor Thomas Menino's chief technical advisor for Boston's student assignment plan. Under his direction, SEII provided a formal analysis of different alternatives, which eventually led to the most significant change in Boston's school choice system since the end of court-ordered busing. The IMF listed him as one of 25 top economists under age 45 in 2014. He was awarded the 2016 Social Choice and Welfare as the top young scholar in social choice and welfare economics together with Fuhito Kojima and elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society. In addition to generating academic publications that study, develop, and test different student assignment systems, Pathak's research work has directly affected the lives of over one million public school students.

Camille Terrier

POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW, School Effectiveness & Inequality Initiative

Camille Terrier is a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT's School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a laboratory focused on education, human capital, and income distribution.
Camille works on a wide range of education issues. One of her project looks at the long term consequences of teachers’ gender bias on student achievement and choice of major in high school. Camille also partnered with the French Ministry of Education to initiate a new research group on the assignment of teachers to schools. This collaboration gave rise to suggestions on how to reform the current teacher assignment process to increase the number of teachers who manage to impact schools.
Having spent two years at the London School of Economics, Camille is engaged in two research projects on education in the U.K. One looks at the performance and management practices of principals in further education colleges in England. The second project runs the first impact evaluation of University Technical Colleges that were introduced in England in 2010.
Since joining the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative, Camille has been investigating the impact of charter school expansion on non-charter students in Massachusetts.
Camille is a member of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics. She has a bachelor’s degree from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France, and a PhD from the Paris School of Economics.

Speaker: Energy and Carbon Credits in China

Location: Dining Room 4 (6th floor, room 632)

China’s increasingly vocal position on the importance of renewable energy and the global response to climate change includes a commitment to national quotas for greenhouse gases. Susan Zhu is actively involved in this transition as an innovator in leveraging blockchain for China’s energy and carbon management. Join this presentation on the value of such a platform, expectations for the technology in the near-term and the far reaching, long-term applications.

As one of the leaders of low-carbon industry, Susan Zhu founded Shanghai Treasure Carbon New Energy Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai Environment Energy Exchange Hong Kong Division, Treasure Carbon Asset Management Co., Ltd., and will establish TC Beijing, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Wuhan, Guizhou Divisions, serving as the Chairman and CEO. She was nominated as the candidate of the Social Impact Award of Education UK Alumni Awards in 2016, and was designated as the low-carbon expert of Hong Kong Financial Services Institute and the Center for China and Globalization. Susan successfully led the Low Carbon Financial Innovation and Cooperation Forum in Shanghai & Hong Kong, and participated in the World Climate Conference, Davos World Economic Forum and Western Returned Scholars Association frequently. Susan holds a Masters in Marketing from Durham University. She is also an active philanthropist; she supports charities to fight climate change.

Technology and digitization are changing the way financial products and services are offered to individuals and businesses around the world. In developed and developing markets, the financial sector is expected to become more efficient and affordable for consumers, but simultaneously to challenge traditional business models. Panelists will explore the scalability of such solutions and the related hypotheses of leading investors and entrepreneurs. How are these panelists catalyzing innovation and what predictions do they hold for the future?

Alan Martinez

VP OF GLOBAL DELIVERY, EFL

Alan Martinez leads the account management team to ensure EFL partner success. He has partnered with chief executives and other senior leaders of the top banks providing access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs and consumers across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. After starting his lending career at ShoreBank in Chicago, he joined ShoreBank International where he founded the company’s credit scoring practice and led micro and SME finance programs across the globe.

Alan earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Jamieson Odell

CO-CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, Caravel EMS Fund

Jamieson Odell has eight years' buy-side experience covering Africa and five years Emerging Markets investment banking and finance experience. Prior to joining Caravel, Mr. Odell was an investment banking Associate in J.P. Morgan’s New York Financial Institutions coverage team (2005-2006). He was an investment banking Analyst in J.P. Morgan’s South Africa Corporate Finance team and ABS group in New York (2002-2005), focusing on transportation, mining, financial services and retail. Jamieson has an MBA from the Wharton School and A.B. from Princeton University. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Tavneet Suri is an Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her expertise is as a development economist, specialized in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tavneet’s work cuts across multiple sectors related to international development, such as digital financial services for the poor, agriculture, and governance. Over the last decade she has spent a significant amount of time in the field across Sub-Saharan Africa. Tavneet is Scientific Director for Africa for J-PAL; a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research; an affiliate of BREAD and CEPR; and Lead Academic of the Kenya Program at the International Growth Center. She holds a BA in economics from Cambridge University, UK, and PhD in economics from Yale University.

As the vice president of the Center’s Investing in Inclusive Finance (IIF) Program, Ms. Drake leads the Africa Board Fellowship Program, which is dedicated to strengthening governance and improving risk management and strategy for CEOs and board directors of sub-Saharan African financial institutions. She also directs the Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC), a membership organization of private entities making equity investments in financial institutions in the developing world.
Ms. Drake is co-editor of The Commercialization of Microfinance: Balancing Business and Development, and the co-author of Alchemists for the Poor: NGOs as Financial Institutions. Prior to joining Accion, Ms. Drake was a banking specialist at the World Bank and a commercial banker. She serves on the boards of the Calmeadow Foundation and Root Capital, and Root’s Peruvian subsidiary, ACCDER.
Ms. Drake is a graduate of Georgetown University and holds an MBA from Babson College. She speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Keynote Panel: Championing Sustainability

Location: (7th floor)

For some, sustainability is an obvious and necessary part of investment research; for others, it is a threat to traditional finance objectives. Sustainability advocates often meet hostility or indifference, and can find themselves marginalized in the broader investment conversations. Championing sustainability in finance requires dedication, perseverance, and a sincere understanding of organizational change.

The closing keynote panel will feature three finance and sustainability experts who have successfully “championed” sustainability at their respective organizations. They will discuss the approaches to organizational change and decisionmaking that yielded positive results, and their expected paths forward in supporting sustainable finance.

Beth Lowery

SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND ESG, TPG Capital

Beth Lowery is a Senior Director for Sustainability and ESG at TPG Capital. She joined TPG in September 2012 after a 20 year career with General Motors Company where she was Corporate Vice President, Environment, Energy & Safety. Mrs. Lowery held various positions at GM, including General Counsel- North America. She also was Senior Knowledge Leader, Environmental Responsibility and a Principal of GreenOrder at LRN; Partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn; law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice G. Mennen Williams, as well as serving on several non-profit boards. Her primary responsibilities within TPG include leading the Sustainability and ESG program development, strategy and deployment across the Firm, engaging with portfolio companies to build sustainable businesses, and assisting deal teams on due diligence matters. Ms. Lowery is a member of the PRI Private Equity Advisory Committee and the Corporate Eco Forum Leadership Council.

Carol Geremia

PRESIDENT, MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc.

Carol W. Geremia is president of MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc. (MFSI) and co-head of Global Distribution for MFS Investment Management® (MFS®). She is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee. In these roles, she oversees the management of the company’s global institutional business, which includes relationships with corporate and public retirement plans, sovereign wealth plans, investment authorities and endowments and foundations.

Carol joined MFS in 1984 and was named president of MFSI in 2004 and co-head of Global Distribution in 2011. Prior to running the global institutional business, Carol was president of MFS Retirement Services, which was dedicated to servicing US plan sponsors and their participants. Carol is a member of the City Year Seven Generations Board. She also serves as a board member for the MFS Charitable Foundation and as an Advisory Council member for Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Inc.

Jackie VanderBrug is a managing director and investment strategist at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management within the Global Wealth & Investment Management division of Bank of America. In this role, she is responsible for defining and executing investment strategies focusing on U.S. Trust® Impact Investing initiatives across all asset classes. She is a regular contributor of the thought leadership reports – IMPACT FORUM– with topics on sustainability, millennials and corporate strategy that align with investment strategies for high net worth individuals, families and foundations. She is a regular speaker and presenter representing U.S. Trust at conferences including the Nantucket Project, Clinton Global Initiative, Aspen Ideas Festival, and Social Capital Media (SOCAP).

Prior to joining U.S. Trust, Jackie was managing director at Criterion Ventures, a hybrid consulting firm where she worked with high net worth individuals and large non-profits on impact strategies and led the development of the field of Gender Lens Investing; she also led the Business Development of the start-up team at iBasis; and, co-founded WORK IN PROGRESS, a non-profit social enterprise focused on career development for underprivileged youth. She started her career as an domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Congress and as a strategy consultant for Fortune 500 firms.

Jackie received her M.B.A from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and her B.S. in Mathematics from Calvin College. Jackie is an Aspen Institute First Mover Fellow and serves on the Board of the Trustees of the Donations.

Jason Jay is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Director of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan.

He teaches courses on leadership, strategy, and innovation for sustainable business. Jason engages students and alumni in hands-on projects with leading companies and organizations. These efforts help build a community of innovators for sustainability that includes MIT students and alumni, faculty and researchers, with partners in business, government, NGOs, and hybrid organizations.

Jason's own research focuses on how people navigate the tensions inherent in the quest for sustainability, as they simultaneously pursue their own self-interest and the flourishing of human and other life. This investigation includes deep case studies of cross-sectoral collaboration and hybrid organizations that combine social and business goals. It also includes action research efforts that help people cultivate authentic, effective conversations about sustainability and escape common pitfalls of excessive moral and intellectual certainty. Energy efficiency has proven a useful context to explore these questions; Jay has conducted an ethnographic study of the Cambridge Energy Alliance, and serves as a research partner and facilitator for the EDF Climate Corps program and its network of companies.

Alongside these efforts, Jason is an active leader of sustainability efforts across MIT. Through the MIT Sustainable Societies Research Group, he brings together scholars from across the Institute to examine the invention, implementation, and transformation required for a sustainable society. He has helped improve the energy and environmental footprint of the MIT campus by founding the MIT Generator and the 'Greening MIT' community engagement campaign, and serves as founding member of the Campus Energy “Walk the Talk” Task Force.

Prior to MIT, Jay ran an Internet startup, traveled around the world, taught kindergarten in a progressive preschool, and worked as a consultant with Dialogos International, where he consulted on leadership development and organizational change for major international corporations and NGO's including BP, the World Bank, and the Instituto Libertad y Democracia.

Jay holds an AB in psychology and a Master's in education from Harvard University, and a PhD in Organization Studies from the MIT Sloan School of Management.